For those that didn't see the announcement, Tech will play in the Cancun Challenge over Thanksgiving break this year. This will involve four of our non conference games. Looking at the slate of other teams involved, there is a good chance we could go 4-0 in this event.
The first two games of the event will be home games starting November 19th. The possible opponents for the two home games are: Elon, Liberty, Morgan State, and North Florida
The other games will be played in Cancun against two of the following teams: Miami (OH), Northwestern, and Northern Iowa.
Elon and Northern Iowa were the only teams in this field of eight that had winning records last season. Northwestern is the only other team from a Top 5 conference in the field as well.
If I had to guess, we will likely face Elon and Liberty in the home games based on distance traveled required. In the games at Cancun, I would expect Miami(OH) as the first round opponent and Northwestern as the final game opponent.
This seems to be a significant drop off in talent for the Cancun Challenge as the last couple of years they had several NCAA Tournament qualifiers and two Final Four teams with Ohio State in 2012 and Wichita State last season. Hopefully the Hokies come in ready to go and roll through this tournament.
Comments
Why go to something this weak? Cannot possibly help NCAA rankings or give your players some good competition to grow as players. We should be scheduling better than this.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I believe JJ and Weaver put this together a while back.
You are correct. They put together much of the schedule during the season, as is typical at all schools. The coaches have heavy input, and the AD's try to implement the plan. There are usually a stray game or two that is left to schedule around conference games, but the bulk is done well in advance of the offseason.
we lost to USC-Upstate last year.... are any of these teams seriously worse than USC-Upstate?
We were.......
I'm pretty sure a lot of this season's schedule was put into play initially when Buzz was not our coach. The concern was not on NCAA tournament qualification, instead it was reaching double digits in victories. I think the 2015/16 schedule will be when you see Buzz's preferences become more apparent.
Schedule this year will be very weak, morgan st. and liberty will be the home part. Other parts of schedule have Radford, VMI, App St, Citadel. Believe they have about 2 games to announce but it looks like the trips to WVU and Penn St. will be the hardest part of the ooc schedule.
The big offset to the weak schedule is that we'll get to watch Buzz instill his program. It won't be pretty, there will be 'casualties', but this will be a formative year. As it was scheduled, the program was as much to protect Weaver's ego as Johnson's tenure. If Johnson could manage ten wins against the pathetic cupcake schedule, then Weaver might not get so much heat for retaining him (and he could save all that money). Much like people thinking they shouldn't have bought stock in Apple several years ago because 'it cost too much'.
Anyone know if we play VCU? I remember talks of starting up a series with them last year. It seems like a no-brainer rivalry to me against a quality opponent and Shaka vs Buzz could be exciting to watch over the coming years.
I think in the end, this tournament and the relatively weak schedule could be a blessing. As someone who has played sports; a win is a win, and consistent winning will be great for a young team, with little "gel". It is going to be huge for these guys to play together, get adjusted, and improve against relatively weak teams. Last year had to be brutal for these guys, going out and losing consecutively night in and night out... it takes something out of you.
Assuming we will most likely not have to worry about our SoS come March; stacking up wins in year 1 is very important.
This would be nice if we won this tournament, give the guys a little momentum and pride. After last year, I'm thinking they can take all that they can get. And they get a free trip to Cancun. I doubt there will be too many complaints from the players.
The OOC schedule looks weak; but so does winning less than 10 games in a year.